Close to an of an era for competitive Canadians???

[Marbles]

It wasn't until today when I thought about taping the race versus watching it live that it got me thinking about who would be my favoured drivers when I realized the pickin's were slim in no small part because no Canadians would be taking part for the first time in nearly two decades!!!

After the odd foray by Canadians over the long history of Indycar, Scott Goodyear started a steady trend of Canadian involvement back in 1990 that has made every race that much more interesting for me to watch and has helped the sport gain huge recognition in Canada. After all, there is nothing like having a homeboy to root for! Goodyear, Tracy, Villeneuve, Moore, Carpentier and Tagliani. It's been a pretty good run for this population challenged nation. :)

I still have preferred non-Canucks but even those ranks have been thinned by the disappearance of Franchitti and Doornbos. Still got Dixon. Rahal and Power and a race at an airport in Edmonton. that should get me through this season.

As Mark mentioned in another thread, the outlook for PT as it stands now is bleak according to The Star today. I think Forsythe is doing one of the following three things:

I)Sticking it to the IRL (and race fans world wide).
B)Possibly participate at one point or antoher in this season... in some way.
3)Hopes PT agrees to disagree and they just rip up the contract and go their own ways.

Damn, forgot about Roth. How did the Japanese root for Hiro? I can hear the chant now: "Don't Finish last! Don't finish last!"

Something still missing.

[DBell]

I hope Hinch gets a chance to move up in the future. I think he has some talent. Could Canada be feeling the loss of Players in developing young drivers? When they were forced to leave, I remeber some saying it would be felt most in driver development over the long term.

[Marbles]

I hope Hinch gets a chance to move up in the future. I think he has some talent. Could Canada be feeling the loss of Players in developing young drivers? When they were forced to leave, I remeber some saying it would be felt most in driver development over the long term.

Player's was "the" company when it came to Canadian motorsport involvement. Since it's infancy, I think they sposored the first major race at Mosport in the early '60s (Player's 200), Player's had been there. It's hard to replace those bucks. It's also hard when you see Canadian sponsorship dollars in motorsport that have nothing to do with Canadian drivers.

Hopefully this well change sooner than later with this single series.

[-Helix-]

Roth could develop into a decent driver. He did well in qualifying last night.

[Easy Drifter]

Actually the first was O'Keefe Breweries with a race at Harewood and Gendebien was the star import. However Imperial Tobacco (PLAYERS) certainly has done far far more for Cdn. racing than anyone else. Gulf Oil, Macs Milk and Cdn.Tire are others. Royal Bank dabbled and Scotty had MacKenzie Financial. Swiss Chalet sponsored Eppie to a Trans Am title and then dropped out. Come on Tim Hortons get with it.

[Marbles]

Actually the first was O'Keefe Breweries with a race at Harewood and Gendebien was the star import.


I knew you'd do that to me! ;)

[NickFalzone]

Roth could develop into a decent driver. He did well in qualifying last night.

If he keeps up the same funding, his team could develop into mid-pack like a Panther or D&R. But I think he's been quoted as saying that this is his last year as a driver.

[weeflyonthewall]

I hope Hinch gets a chance to move up in the future. I think he has some talent. Could Canada be feeling the loss of Players in developing young drivers? When they were forced to leave, I remeber some saying it would be felt most in driver development over the long term.

I heard Forsythe tried to get several Canadian companies to sponsor a Canadian driver development program. Air Canada, Molson, and a few others

[Easy Drifter]

There are not a lot of large Cdn. multis. Molson is Coors controlled. Two with some US presense are Cara (Swiss Chalet, Harvey's Burgers along with a bunch of US brand Restuarants in Canada) and Tim Hortons Doughnuts. Our banks are big enough and most have US Subs. Westjet is possible. Some of our media are large enough but have no US exposure.
Of course there is the maker of the Blackberry!
Dig deep enough and offshore ownership usually pops up.